Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: geoffm@EBay.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: where are they now? Message-ID: <1990Oct4.012113.10846@cbnews.att.com> Date: 4 Oct 90 01:21:13 GMT References: <1990Sep24.001114.22188@cbnews.att.com> <1990Sep27.031313.6610@cbnews.att.com> <1990Sep29.155016.7108@cbnews.att.com> <1990Oct1.022059.3143@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military-request@att.att.com Followup-To: sci.military Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca. Lines: 73 Approved: military@att.att.com From: geoffm@EBay.Sun.COM (Geoff Miller) In article <1990Oct1.022059.3143@cbnews.att.com> budden@trout.nosc.mil (Rex A. Buddenberg) writes: >327s. The Coast Guard built seven cutters of 327 feet length in 1936. >The Alexander Hamilton was the lead ship; she was torpedoed and >sunk off Iceland in early 1942 so the class has been known as the >Campbell class since. According to my copy of _The Coast Guardsman's Manual_ (1978 edition), the 327s are known as the Secretary Class, because they were named for past Secretaries of the Treasury. (Of course, considering the fact that this presumably authoritative book spells "alpha" A-L-F-A, maybe that should be taken with a grain of salt... :) If that really is the name of the class it's a bit confusing, since the 378s are also named after Secretaries of the Treasury. ----- >Spencer was decomissioned in the mid-70s (?), but the remaining five cutters >remained on continuous active duty in Coast Guard service until into the 80s >with Ingham last to go at age 52. I believe that the Spencer was used as a training aid for Reservists in Baltimore for several years after decommisioning -- my BM1 on the Morgenthau told me that this was the only surviving facility where MKs could be trained on steam plants. ----- >The Campbell class went through a lot of evolution in installed >equipment over the years, but never quite ran out of space. And >they were the nicest riding cutters we've ever had in the inventory. It was believed among we 378 types that the 327s didn't have much in the way of crew facilities, though: crowded berthing areas, no rec decks as such, etc. But since I never crossed paths with anyone who'd actually served aboard one, I couldn't confirm this. Miscellaneous questions: * How long did it take for these ships to "get up steam" prior to getting underway? * I seem to recall reading that two 327s were sunk as man-made reefs somewhere; the Florida Keys, I think. Does anyone know which cutters these were, and exactly where they were sunk? * What was their rated flank speed? * How was the general reliability of auxiliary machinery such as the heaters, water evaporators, etc. on such old ships? How much of this stuff was original equipment? * Is it true that the oldest ship in the Guard has gold hull numbers instead of black? I read that in _Sea Classics_ in an article about the Campbell's decommissioning, but I've never heard that anywhere else. The numbers sure looked black to me in the accompanying b&w photos. Geoff -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Geoff Miller | "What can they do, stick me on a geoffm@purplehaze.sun.com | Big White One and send me to Alaska?" -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-